Dockers 4 – Wests 40


Returning to home soil after two successful weeks on the road Dockers came up against a strong Wests outfit at Shelley Ave.
The first quarter was a well contested affair with Wests being put under serious pressure in defence and with ball in hand. Good early yards from man of the match Connor Key and his second row partner Brad Billam showed that Dockers were in no mood to roll over. Forcing some errors from the opposition with their line speed Dockers unfortunately couldn’t capitalize with any points. Wests however made their pressure tell with four tries in a well contested first half.
Having put a lot of effort into the first half Dockers line speed and defence started to slip away and, although managing a score from the impressive Parau Aizue, the second half went pretty much the same way as the first. Wests strength in depth was fairly evident throughout the second half allowing them to keep their attack fresh and score some well worked tries.
Testing ourselves against probably the best team in the competition has given us the opportunity to see how far we have come as a group. The team spirit was good right through the game with everyone working hard for each other in what was a very hard game. The quiet reflection in the dressing room afterwards showed that the boys were pretty exhausted and will hopefully learn a lot from this game.
Results are obviously important but sometimes the performance has more value and the lads can be proud of their efforts out there.
The confidence gained from this will only become evident in the coming weeks and I’m sure we’ll build on this.

ThE bENcH